Each episode features three young athletes competing against each other in four "extreme" versions of athletic events culminating in a fifth and final round which set the three competitors on a race up an artificial "mountain" called the Aggro Crag, Mega Crag, or Super Aggro Crag. Nickelodeon GUTS reruns were shown on Nickelodeon from January 15, 1996 until January 31, 1999 before moving to Nickelodeon GAS from March 1, 1999 until the station ceased broadcasting on December 31, 2007 (April 23, 2009 on Dish Network). It has occasionally been seen in reruns on TeenNick since January 1, 2008; it currently airs on the TeenNick block The Splat on an occasional basis.

On each half-hour episode, three children or teenagers compete against each other in four events that are based on "extreme" versions of skills in popular sports, such as basketball, baseball, football, and soccer. While most of these events include the use of an elastic harness, others make use of a wave pool, and sometimes a racing track is used. During the show's run, more creative and ambitious events were developed, even including a fabricated ski slope.

The competitors are awarded points based on their comparative performance in each event. First place in each event is worth 300 points. Second place receives 200 points, and third place earns 100 points.

The contestants are introduced in the breaks between events in a segment dubbed "Spill Your GUTS". The segment was done as an interview with one of the hosts in the first two seasons (O'Malley in season 1 and Quirk in season 2), and was subsequently a pre-recorded segment. In seasons 3 and 4 the contestants introduced themselves.

The fifth and final event of each episode pits the three contestants in a race to climb a fabricated mountain called the Aggro Crag (season 1-2), and later called the Mega Crag (season 3), and the Super Aggro Crag (Global GUTS). Each contestant had a separate (but identical) side of the mountain to climb, and was not permitted to cross into their opponents' paths or disrupt their progress.

The object of the Crag was for all three contestants to race to the peak of the Crag, while hitting a series of buttons at (referred to as "actuators") along the way to the peak. If a contestant misses any of the actuators along the way, a spotter at the top (often referred to as the "crag troll") prevents that player from completing the climb until he/she returns and activates whatever targets they missed. The first contestant to successfully activate all of their actuators, including the final one at the peak, earns 725 points. The second and third-place contestants earn 550 and 375 points, respectively.

The climb is made more difficult by strobe lights "lightning", foam rock "avalanches", flying "snow" in the form of glitter and confetti, and "nuclear flying crystals" that are each triggered either at random or when the players step on specific switchbacks on the crag.

A number of violations/errors on the Crag could result in a player automatically receiving third place points. These include:

Crossing into another player's section of the mountain

Hitting someone else's actuator (excluding the final actuator)

Reaching the top of the mountain by grabbing a hand rail, a rule seldom enforced during the Mega Crag

Making a false start at the beginning of the climb

Finishing the climb without lighting all of one's own actuators

Not stepping on all of the boulders in the Crag's "Boulder Canyon" section at the base of the mountain.

The increased point structure in the final event allows contestants overcome a deficit of as much as 300 points to win,[1] despite earlier mistakes. The point structure for the Crag eliminates the possibility of a tie except in the unlikely event that two players who are already tied are each disqualified during the Crag and therefore both receive third-place points. While dual-disqualifications did occur during the show's run, it never resulted in a tie.

The sound design for the action on the Aggro Crag was created by Nickelodeon Senior Sound Designer Mark Schultz, who converted the voltages supplied by the infrared actuator "eyes" to triggers read by a MIDI-based sampler.[citation needed]

The total height of the Aggro Crag was 28 feet. For the Mega Crag, as well as the Super Aggro Crag on Global GUTS, the total height was 30 feet tall.[2]

The player with the most points after all five events wins the game and receives a gold GUTS medal, as well as a faux glowing piece of the Aggro Crag. When the show changed to Global GUTS, the medals were redesigned to reflect the show's new logo. With all seasons of the show, second place receives a silver medal and third receives a bronze medal. The highest possible score for a player is 1,925 points, and was attained several times throughout the show's run. Three contestants who achieved this score in 1992 were invited back to compete in a one-hour GUTS All-Star Special in 1993.

On July 25, 1993, at the start of the show's second season, Nickelodeon aired a one-hour special known as Nickelodeon GUTS All-Stars, where three former players from the previous season who made a perfect score of 1,925 points compete for a college scholarship and a special GUTS All-Star trophy. The one-hour special featured seven events plus the Aggro Crag. This special also debuted five new events, which were later seen throughout the second season. The new events were: Rebound, Tornado Run, Hang Ten, Fumble and Mad Max. The three perfect-scoring players from the first season were: Mike "Superman" Schmidt, Jana "The Warrior" Waring, and Kelli "The Maniac" Marchewka. In the award ceremony, each player received a silver Nickelodeon GUTS All-Stars plate along with their college scholarship. Third place received a $1,000 college scholarship, second place received a $1,500 college scholarship and the winner received a $2,500 college scholarship. Jana "The Warrior" Waring, dressed in red, won the Nickelodeon GUTS All-Stars trophy at the end of the show. In 1994, Sony Wonder released a VHS based on the "All-Star Special", which featured special guest commentaries by Super Bowl Champion Lawrence Taylor.

For the show's final season, Nickelodeon produced an international spinoff, Global Guts, featuring contestants from various countries, including the United States of America, Mexico, United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (simply referred to as "CIS" on air, this included only Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine). Although the countries had multiple contestants, no country was ever represented twice in a single episode except for the Special Olympic special where it had 2 U.S. players. Each country had its own team of broadcasters; O'Malley retained this role for the US broadcast. The format remained identical to the original version, but the Mega Crag was upgraded to the Super Aggro Crag. In the "Spill Your GUTS" segments, for players from non-English-speaking countries, an interpreter was used.

Taping of Global GUTS took place from July 12 to August 15, 1995, and episodes began airing September 5, 1995.[3] which was part of Nick in the Afternoon.

Medal presentations were also accompanied by the raising of flags and the playing of the national anthem of the winning country, and a victory lap by the contestants, draped in the flags of their home countries. A medal count was also tabulated at the beginning of each episode, similar to the Olympics.

In addition to airing the program on Nickelodeon in the United States, it aired on the Ukrainian Television Network in the CIS, Nickelodeon in Germany, the Israeli Children's Channel in Israel, MVS Multivisión in Mexico, SIC in Portugal, TVE in Spain, and Nickelodeon UK in the United Kingdom.

As a precursor to Global GUTS, season 3 of Nickelodeon GUTS featured six contestants from the United Kingdom, competing in six separate shows. Of the six, four contestants ended up winning the gold medal. The six UK contestants were as follows:

In 1992, Backstreet BoyA.J. McLean appeared on Nickelodeon GUTS, competing against Amanda "The Accelerator" Bulger and Jamie "The Jackal" Mendelsohn, and finished with the silver medal. He was in blue and referred to on the show as AJ "Mean" McLean. He had one event win during his appearance, that being a win in the Slam Dunk event.

In 1993, Hollywood stuntwoman Anna Mercedes Morris competed on the show under the name Anna "Roadrunner" Morris. She was dressed in red, competing against "Lawless" Lauren Shealy and Paul "Running Man" Battson, and she finished with the gold medal, despite injuring her knee in the Basic Training event.

In 1993, actor Mike Vogel competed on Nickelodeon GUTS with Christy "Blast" Gast and Cam "The Ice Man" Burke, and finished with the silver medal. He tied with the other players for first place on Over the Top and also won the Aggro Crag event, coming from third place to take second overall. He was known as Mike "Flea" Vogel and was dressed in blue.

In 1994, actress Ashley Drane competed on Nickelodeon GUTS with Nicole "The Bomber" Bozard and UK resident Leanne "Panther" Kelley, and finished with the silver medal. She was known as Ashley "The Face" Drane and was dressed in blue. Exactly 10 years later, Ashley made a 2nd Nickelodeon appearance, this time on Drake & Josh playing Drake's girlfriend Susan in the episode "Believe Me Brother". Mike "The Dominator" Drane, a Nickelodeon GUTS player from season 1, is also her brother.

In 1994, D. C. United defender Bobby Boswell appeared on Nickelodeon GUTS, competing against Robin "The Lizard" Rexroat and Jennifer "The Jaguar" Barnes, and finished with the silver medal. He was known on the show as Bobby "Lightning" Boswell and won the soccer event "Shoot Out", just a hint of what was to come for his career. Boswell, who was dressed in purple, also won the Mega Crag event in that very same show.

In 1995, Bring It On the Musical star Gregory Haney appeared on Global GUTS as Greg "Big Dog" Haney, playing for team USA. He wore blue and played against Thomas "The Typhoon" Rosen from Germany, and Mor "The Twister" Kesar from Israel. Haney won four out of five events, including the Super Aggro Crag, which increased his score high enough for him to win the gold medal.

All of the episodes of Nickelodeon GUTS exist, and have aired on Nickelodeon until 1999, the now defunct Nick GaS from 1999 to 2007. Nickelodeon GUTS was also on the list of programs to be included on The '90s Are All That (TeenNick's 1990s block) upon its launch in July 2011, but the program did not make its debut until August 2013.

As of October 2015, the show airs occasionally on the TeenNick block The Splat.

A revival of the show, My Family's Got GUTS, debuted on September 15, 2008, filmed at Universal Studios Florida as was the original (but due to it already being occupied, not on the same sound stage as the original). This version is hosted by Ben Lyons, along with Australian celebrity Asha Kuerten as the referee. Unlike the original, it follows a bracket tournament format featuring 2 families competing as teams per episode, with points earned being used instead to provide a head start during the Aggro Crag rather than deciding the winner.

In November 1994 Nickelodeon released a video game based on the Nickelodeon GUTS game show for the Super NES. One or two players may compete in many of the events that debuted in the TV show, including the Aggro Crag. The game is based on the actual footage of the show and contains filmed contestants.[4]

^Hinman, Catherine (1995-08-29). "Nickelodeon's 'GUTS' Wins over the World". Chicago Tribune. [Global GUTS] debuts Sept. 5 in the United States on Nickelodeon ... the show ... began production July 12 and wrapped up Aug. 15